President's Blog

A Transportation Research Board committee chaired by ASCE Past President Henry "Gerry" Schwartz has produced a report, Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation, which I learned more about recently.

Although engineers have believed that climate change would be a gradual long term process, unfortunately Schwartz's report "suggest[s] that the impacts are going to be more serious and more of a surprise than transportation officials realize." Many of these are exacerbated on days of hot weather and during extended above-normal heat periods. Other problems relate to the potential impact of Arctic temperatures, sea level rise, intense precipitation and possible increases in hurricane intensity. Coastal flooding is another major possibility that could have a significant effect on U.S. transportation infrastructure.

TRB's report presents 14 recommendations. They begin with creating an inventory of critical infrastructure that might be affected by climate change projections. Schwartz presses the need for public and private infrastructure owners to incorporate this analysis in capital and renewal planning. The decision should be based on the current probability of an event, rather than on historic data. The "hundred-year" storm of yesterday may only be today a 50- or 20-year event.

Some examples of rising sea levels combined with storm surges can produce inundated roads, rail lines and runways with significant erosion of road base and bridge supports. The effects of extreme temperature events could include thermal expansion of bridges and paved services and concerns regarding pavement integrity. The report goes on to cite many other examples. You can read TRB's summary of their report here (PDF document.)

Past president Schwartz believes that we may not be 100 percent accurate about the potential threat, but if we wait until we are sure, we may be too late. "Do we want to wait 50 years to find out those guys 50 years ago were dead right?  It is better to do something over 50 years and perhaps they weren’t quite right?" he asked.

What is your state agency doing to prepare for potential impacts from global climatic changes?

I would like to credit the National Society of Professional Engineers' PE Magazine as the source of some of the material for this blog.

I recently read the Summer 2008 edition of Texas Civil Engineer, a quarterly magazine published by the Texas Society of Civil Engineers.  It included an article by Melinda Luna entitled, "The Texas Five: Five ASCE Presidents from the Texas Section."  We know that Wayne Klotz, our current president-elect, will be installed in early November as president of ASCE.  Many of you have heard Wayne’s vision regarding his "ABCs of Civil Engineering," which translate to advocate, benefit and change. But were you aware that Wayne is the fifth in a line of ASCE national presidents from the Lone Star State?

The first was Mason G. Lockwood, who served in 1956. One of his goals was to have the Society establish policies to financially help younger members join ASCE as well as student membership at the national level. While an electrical engineering graduate of Rice, he established his own firm, Lockwood, Andrews & Newman, which after more than 50 years is still going strong within the Leo A. Daly Company. Following in his footsteps was one of his partners, Frank H. Newman, who served as Society president in 1969. Before teaming with Lockwood, Newman worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Texas Highway Department.

The third Texan, and member of the Texas Section, was Jim Sims, who served in 1982.  Another Rice graduate, he worked as a consultant to Humble Oil Company and spent the majority of his career at Rice in various positions, including professor and vice president of campus business affairs. As ASCE president, Sims focused on organization, administration and operation of technical activities.

The fourth to serve was John Focht Jr. in 1990. Many of us know John, who is still active within ASCE.  He was a graduate of both the University of Texas and Harvard, and worked with McClelland Engineers.  He also worked at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg, Miss. At the national level, he focused on educating the public on how their quality of life was improved by civil engineers.

All of these gentlemen, besides being from the Texas Section, have in common a deep and devout devotion and dedication to service in the civil engineering profession. In their own ways, they all contributed to the advancement of the profession and ASCE. It is also interesting to note that two individuals from the same Texas engineering firm became president, Lockwood in '56 and Newman 13 years later. This is a unique occurrence and shows the dedication that the firm’s founders had to the profession. 

I salute the Texas Section for sending forth these five eminent individuals.  I also wonder if any other Section can lay claim to having five or more ASCE presidents. Let me know in the comments section below.

We only have to look at the prices at the gas pump to know that we have an energy crisis in this country. It extends not just to the United States, but worldwide. On my recent visit to Canada, their news programs were filled with the rising cost of gasoline. Currently is it about $1.50 per liter Canadian, which equates to more than $5.68 per gallon here. It was not that long ago that gas prices in Canada were on a par with or even lower than the United States.

The National Society of Professional Engineers' annual meeting in late July had energy as its major focus. There were a number of presentations on wave energy, emerging technologies of hybrid vehicles, the critical role of innovation in energy and microbial fuel cells, to name a few. As a backdrop to their conference, a recent edition of their magazine included "The Evolution of Energy," an article by Eva Caplan-Leiserson. A number of officials from the U.S. Department of Energy were quoted in the article, including current department Secretary Samuel Bodman, who made the situation plain: "Securing our energy future is one of the most pressing challenges of our time."

At a recent National Academy Summit on America's Energy Future, Bodman got more specific. "We need transformational discoveries that fundamentally change the rules of the game," he said, since the current solutions of biofuels and expanded "plug-in" hybrid vehicles raise additional concerns about the loss of food supply and increases stress on our electrical system. To promote new innovative solutions, the Energy Department started an Energy Frontier Research Center program that will provide grants to organizations to pursue basic research in solar energy, electrical energy storage, biofuels, hydrogen production and more.

Robert Marley, P.E., deputy director of the U.S. Climate Change Technology Program, believes that we can improve technologies based on past successes. He is confident that we can find better methods of converting cellulose into fuel, more efficient means of making hydrogen using photons from solar energy, better energy storage for hybrid electric cars and improved means of using coal without CO2 emissions.

Stephen Specker, president of the Electric Power Research Institute, believes that our message to the public should be "We can do it, but it won’t be easy." My challenge to civil engineers is for us to get into the game. We need to be working with other engineers and planners in whatever way possible to foster the concept of energy independence.  My challenge to you as ASCE members is this: what should we be doing?

As you may know, ExCEEd stands for Excellence in Civil Engineering Education. The program has its roots in recommendations developed and issued during the 1995 Education Congress conducted by ASCE. One declared a need for more education in order to practice at the professional level. This led directly to ASCE’s Policy 465 a few years later. Another recommendation was that civil engineering professors needed more training in how to become better teachers. Fortunately ASCE had on staff some former professors from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and they were familiar with a program that had been developed to help Army officers be effective teachers. ASCE adapted their program and turned it into a weeklong workshop.

The successful workshop is now in its tenth year, with nearly 500 professors (out of 3,500 nationwide) having had ExCEEd training. Each year, two workshops are conducted.  One is held in the West or Midwest. Last year, I attended the one in Flagstaff, Ariz. The other is held at West Point, which I had the pleasure of attending the last weekend of July. In order to be a participant, a professor has to submit an application for approval. The success of the program has grown to the point where ASCE has more applicants than the 24 slots available in each workshop.

The workshop is a very rigorous boot camp on how to be an effective teacher. The professors work with mentors and actually prepare and give a lesson. The first time, they ready and deliver that lesson just as they would have done it prior to coming to ExCEEd. They receive real-time feedback from an audience composed of their peers and mentors. The lesson practices are then given two succeeding times, and the level of improvement and change is dramatic. Interspersed with the lesson presentations, there are lectures on principles of effective teaching, communication skills, learning styles, teaching with technology and interpersonal rapport with students. This year's class at West Point included professors from as far away as Hawaii and Afghanistan. The program can claim credit for having trained the majority of engineering professors at a number of universities.

If you are involved or know the department head at your alma mater, I would encourage you to have their professors apply for next year's workshops. The effectiveness of our civil and environmental engineering professors is paramount. The future of the civil engineering profession depends upon it. 

At the ASCE Board of Directors Meeting on July 21 in Kansas City, we had the pleasure of hearing a presentation by Larry Frevert, P.E., president of the American Public Works Association.

Frevert's presentation focused on concerns related to our rapidly deteriorating infrastructure and its impact on the quality of life.  He praised ASCE for our efforts, including our Report Card and our emphasis on infrastructure investment. Frevert directed our attention to America 2050, a committee created by the Regional Plan Association representing New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.  He believes its approach is very much on the right track, and strongly recommended that we learn more about the committee by visiting its Web site, america2050.org.

America 2050 recognizes that there is a global threat to America's economic prosperity.  We are falling behind our competitors who have long-range strategies, whereas we lack a vision.  The America 2050 strategy outlines public and private policies and investments to accommodate growth in the 21st Century.  If followed, the America 2050 strategy will produce five major outcomes:

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the World Justice Forum in Vienna, Austria, at the invitation of the American Bar Association. Held July 1 through 5, the forum brought together leaders representing disciplines of business, education, engineering, faith, human rights, labor and other related fields.  The forum was intended to launch new partnerships and initiatives to advance a global "Rule of Law," and to help all disciplines to achieve their goals.  Although the Rule of Law was a relatively new concept to me, it's something that has been a part of the legal community for centuries. Its basic principles are:

·  The government and its officials and agents are accountable under the law.
·  The laws are clear, publicized, stable and fair, and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property.
·  The process by which the laws are enacted, administered and enforced is accessible, fair and efficient.
·  The laws are upheld, and access to justice is provided by competent, independent and ethical law enforcement officials, attorneys or representatives, and judges, who are of sufficient number, have adequate resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.

One of the primary objectives of the Rule of Law is to ensure that all peoples have greater access to justice and how this access can help reduce poverty.  Worldwide, there are more than 3 billion people who do not have access to justice and do not live under the principles of the Rule of Law.

You might ask "why is the American Society of Civil Engineers interested in this?"  The answer is very simple -- corruption.

In architectural and engineering communities worldwide, corruption is so rampant that more than $500 billion a year is believed lost.  The opportunities make it more prevalent within the construction industry, but it is also frequent in the architectural and engineering community, where it can start with subtle influences such as finding the right official to bribe. Fortunately, most cases of corruption are exposed and the individuals brought to justice. Transparency International, a German-based organization, rates nations by level of public and private corruption. Out of almost 200 nations ranked, the United States is 20th. Finland and New Zealand are least corrupt, while Myanmar and Somalia are the world’s worst.

ASCE was invited to participate because of our Global Anti-Corruption, Education and Training Project (ACET).  In addition to Transparency International, we have been working with the International Federation of Consulting Engineers, the World Federation of Engineering Organizations, the World Economic Forum Partnership Against Corruption, and others.  Our objective is to develop and distribute a comprehensive education and training program devoted to the importance of individual integrity among all participants in the performance of engineering/construction projects.  With the program nearing completion, we hope to have it available at our annual meeting November in Pittsburgh, including a new DVD, PowerPoint presentations and other materials.

I challenge each of you to look in your community to see if the principles of the Rule of Law are present.  Do poor and disadvantaged individuals in your area have adequate access to the legal system?  Not just when matters end up in court, but with other issues such as wrestling with debt, clashing with landlords and other legal entanglements.  Do you see signs of corruption in the system? 

As civil engineers, we believe that we should be building a better quality of life.  That doesn't simply mean the physical infrastructures that surround us, but all elements of the quality of life.

A recent article in The Sun, Baltimore's newspaper, focused on research into factors that explain the differences between boys and girls in math and reading test scores.  These scientists examined math and reading scores on standardized tests given to thousands of 15-year-old students in more than 40 countries. They also examined how each country dealt with gender equality issues.  Typically, females scored lower in math than males, but girls did better in reading than boys.

In countries that have very progressive gender equality policies such as Norway and Iceland, girls performed almost equally with boys on math skills, according to The Sun’s report on the research.  The United States ranked somewhat in the middle, with boys outperforming girls, while other nations such as Turkey had relatively low test scores for girls as compared with boys. Throughout the world, girls have scored higher in reading, and that advantage has become even greater in those countries with a higher emphasis on gender equality.

This study generally tracks earlier studies.  The findings of college professors in Maryland indicate that the gap in math between the genders has been shrinking over time.  With the widespread acknowledgement that both sexes need to learn math, attitudes are changing.  In 2007, more than 125,000 girls and 142,000 boys took the college board’s Advance Placement Calculus Exam.  Ten years ago, the number taking the exam was half that size, but in roughly the same gender proportions.  On the traditional SAT, girls are still scoring lower proportionally, but more of them are taking the exam.

For many educators, the differences in math, while important, aren't nearly as serious as the differences in reading skills.  Boys are scoring lower in reading tests and as compared with girls, the gap is increasing.  Maybe part of our emphasis in education should include social sciences and reading for men as well as sciences and mathematics.  Our Body of Knowledge clearly identifies the social sciences as a key element that engineers need in order to practice at the professional level in the future.

I never thought of water as a crop until I read an article by Justin Lawson, P.E., in the June issue of PE, the Magazine for Professional Engineers. On average, an American uses 175 gallons of clean water per day, but for cooking or drinking uses barely a gallon. Therefore, more than 99 percent of the water goes down the drain.  There are estimates that 50 percent could be reused as gray water by harvesting it to irrigate plant life and other such uses.

Even with detention basins and vegetated swales, most of the rainwater travels along an open or closed system until it releases the discharge into a stream or river. Why not harvest this rainwater?  In a roof collection system, this water could easily be used with proper treatment. Creating larger storage impoundments for stormwater upstream is another harvesting technique, one that has not been utilized extensively in this country.

We engineers need to learn these techniques and advocate for more sustainable water environments. This advocacy begins with elected officials and regulators in our local communities. At the federal level, there has been a bill to establish a program within EPA's Office of Research and Development to promote water use efficiency and conservation. The second bill would promote R&D and create a demonstration program for the reuse of water produced during oil and gas extraction.

Has your local community begun promoting water harvesting and reuse? This is a step to building a culture of sustainability that is needed in this country as our limited resources continue to be exhausted.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting the U.S. Air Force Academy Field Engineering and Readiness Laboratory, on the academy's campus in Colorado.  FERL is a unique program designed 15 years ago by Brig. Gen. David O. Swint (Ret.).  Since cadets receive only three weeks off in the summer, they have little opportunity to have internships or summer jobs.  Because of a concern that many of these cadets had no experience with construction and it was very difficult to relate classroom exercises to the field, FERL was developed under a motto of "Build First, Design Later."  The program is open to engineering majors not only at the Air Force Academy, but also cadets from the U.S. Military Academy and Air Force ROTC students. The cadets, all rising juniors, are divided into teams (flights) of approximately 15 each.  This year there are five flights.  The intense three-week-long program fits within the cadets' time off.

The objective of FERL is to develop knowledge, skills and responsibilities and provide the more traditional laboratory experience that might be obtained at a larger university so it can be applied to classroom theory.  FERL is indeed a hands-on program.  It has its own dedicated area on the academy campus.  The cadets sleep in tents and live at the site for the three weeks.  They focus on four major areas:  geotechnical, structural, construction and environmental.  They do soil analysis and pavement design.  In the structural area, some of the items relate to bridge design, trusses and concrete beams.  Construction relates to scheduling, constructability, surveys and project coordination. The environmental area focuses on hydraulics, units operations, water treatment, waste management and hazmat sampling.  This effort is taught partly through classroom time, but it is 20 percent classroom and 80 percent field.  In the field, the cadets perform a survey of a crash site to locate the debris.  They take soil and water samples.  They do roadway development by constructing a bituminous concrete paved road and operating heavy equipment.  They pour cement concrete beams and pads.  They design and construct a sprinkler system and build a large steel bridge that requires not only welding, but other types of connections.

The highlight of the cadets' effort is in building two-bedroom houses for the Navaho Indians.  They build a house entirely using wood-frame construction.  The only part that they don't build is the roof trusses.  These homes are then shipped to the Navaho reservations, where they are placed on foundations.  Over the course of FERL's 15-year history, they have provided 28 housing units for the Navaho Indians.

I was extremely impressed by FERL's professionalism and attention to detail.  The cadet students are supported by mentors, some of which are active duty Air Force, reservists, Air National Guard and contractors.  The faculty of the Air Force Academy also serves as support personnel.  It is a highly unique experience; one that I think traditional college programs could model.  I would especially like to thank Col. Seely, the department head, and Captain Hoisington for their hospitality in showing me around the FERL activities as well as the campus.

The civil and environmental engineering profession plays an increasingly important role in our global economy. The growth of underdeveloped and developing countries and their desire for infrastructure places a great deal of emphasis on our profession. Even in the United States, construction still accounts for more than 5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. This unprecedented demand for infrastructure, in particular sustainable infrastructure, requires advances in new techniques, products and materials. To accomplish this, appropriate research must be done to find these new innovations.

A year ago, a workshop was conducted by the National Science Foundation focusing on future research directions in civil and environmental engineering. The workshop covered four areas -- renewal; management and protection of complex systems; sustainability; global impacts; and energy. White papers were presented focusing on these areas. In future blogs, I will delve into more depth on some of these white papers. The issues surrounding these areas are very real and the needs of society are immense. The group felt strongly that research efforts must have significant impact, be interdisciplinary and socially relevant. The attendees also believed that civil and environmental research must be fused with other disciplines, particularly social and natural sciences. Much of the discussion focused on market approaches to integrate technology with the management of:

· Environmental systems;
· Nanomaterials;
· Advances;
· Integration models for infrastructure systems;
· GIS systems, health information and decision systems to address  global infectious diseases.

From this effort, three broad topics for future discussion emerged. They are:

· Energy, carbon cycle management and climate change;
· Multi-scale systems based hydrologic cycle management;
· Mega-cities and livability.

This workshop produced a wealth of information. However, it will go for naught unless there are sufficient financial resources dedicated to beginning and advancing this research agenda. ASCE is deeply involved in supporting research at the federal level. ASCE routinely testifies before and works with Congress on various research funding bills. We are also part of the American Association of Engineering Societies' effort to garner more funding for research activities. I would like to thank Joseph B. Hughes, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Civil Engineering at Georgia Tech, for his excellent final report on this workshop.

I recently came across a surprising item in the Times Digest, a compilation of news articles put together by the editors of The New York Times, with the headline "High-Tech Japan is Running Out of Engineers."

It appears that in Japan, there is a significant decline in individuals pursuing engineering degrees. They call it the "flight from science." The decline is so significant that various sectors have launched efforts to encourage more students to pursue engineering degrees by making engineering look sexy. Moreover, many companies are importing more foreign workers or outsourcing engineering positions. Does any of this sound familiar?

Japan's engineering expertise lifted that nation from its post-war defeat to the economic power that it is today. Unfortunately, like many Americans, college students are choosing fields like finance and medicine that provide more compensation. They are also pursuing careers in art and other creative outlets.

It appears that this decline actually started about two decades ago, but has accelerated rapidly in recent years. One estimate puts the shortfall in their digital industry at almost a half-million engineers. Couple this problem with Japan's low birth rate and a quick solution is not at hand. Perhaps they too could benefit from some of the recent messaging campaigns developed by the National Academy of Engineers and other engineering organizations.